John Haynes wrote and published his first book, on building an Austin 7, while still at school in 1956, now more than 50 years ago. Haynes publishing was found just 4 years later in 1960. From that very first manual, Haynes' focus has always been on attention to detail. Making sure it is right, clear and easy to understand. Every Haynes manual is based on a complete teardown and subsequent rebuild of the motorcycle or vehicle in question. Writing a Haynes manual is a mammoth task. It takes about 30 weeks and is written simultaneously by several authors to shorten production time… Hundreds of photographs are taken during the process and the result is a step-by-step instruction of 'how to do it'.
Over the years I've come to appreciate the quality of Haynes manuals. The have proven to be an invaluable source of information for the far too many cars and motorcycles I have owned. I've always done my own maintenance and Haynes provided all the info and details I needed. I'm not alone in seeing Haynes as the book to buy. Every year some 7 million Haynes manuals are sold and some 150 million have been sold in total worldwide. Staggering numbers.
So what is there to improve on Haynes manuals. Well, a good inside source told me they are working on a robot with a build-in digital version of the Haynes manual and two right hands… :-) Seriously though, Haynes has made their books available online at www.haynes.com So what is the advantage of that for me, you may wonder. Well first of all you can't loose your book. No-one can borrow it and then forget to return it, leaving you wondering months later who it was that borrowed it… They won't clog up your cabinet, don't get dirty and don't get misplaced. But there is more. What is it that you do most in a Haynes manual? Look for information! As the books are comprehensive, searching for that piece of info you're after can take a while. Not with the online manual as you simply type in a word or phrase in the build-in search engine and let Haynes search it for you. There is even the option to translate now, for those who's native language isn't English through on-line translators. No need to wait for the printed version to arrive in the mail or pay for courier charges; as soon as you made the payment they are available.
You also can't forget to take them with you as they are always available online, wherever you are. You can view them on a laptop, smartphone, iPad, iPod, tablet and anything else that has an internet browser. You can also view them on someone else's computer. If for some reason you would like a printout of a page then that is still possible too, just press the print button and send it to the printer you want. If you only need one temporary then take out a year subscription, if you want to keep them forever select 'lifetime' subscription.
We're happy with the digital version as we don't have to take the huge manuals with us anymore and weight and space saving is high on the priority list!
